Drakengard 2

And so the saga drags on.

Word to the wise: It usually says something when a major publisher can't be bothered to publish one of its own games. Case in point: Drakengard 2. The series, known as Dragon-On Dragoon in Japan, developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix, has been picked up by Ubisoft for its go-round in the States. Some gamers may remember the original game's ambitious, but underachieving, premise, which was basically a medley of Panzer Dragoon + Dynasty Warriors + Desert Strike. Unfortunately, as dynamic as that equation sounds, in actual practice it resulted in Panzer Dragoon + Dynasty Warriors + Desert Strike = repetitious boredom. Unsurprisingly, the reviews generally thought the same thing, and so you'd think the development team would have taken a kernel of that criticism and perhaps used it to grow something better for the sequel. Well, now that Drakengard 2 has arrived, we can say with confidence that the game is...practically the same as before.

At one point, Cavia, the developer, was the creative force behind the high-quality Ace Combat series, but its pedigree hasn't had a good effect on Drakengard. While some of the stages feature the company's famous photo-realistic graphics, it arrives with far less impact since most of the areas are fantasy-based bland mountains instead of Ace Combat's lifelike urban settings. In purely visual terms, Drakengard 2 doesn't even hold up to the visual quality of Cavia's other titles like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex or the import-only Naruto: Uzumaki Ninden. Nowe (pronounced "no-wee" or "no way!" depending on who's saying it in-game) is a generic Japanese hero type who looks like an anemic Crimson Sea rip-off, while his empire's army consists of one cloned warrior type. His superior and friend, Eris, fares no better, but the real crime is the mediocre-looking character model for his dragon soulmate, Legna. Unlike the stylish, gamine majesty of the Panzer Dragoon stable, Legna looks like some famished worm with wings. The opposing forces also suffer from visual malaise; you fight endless waves of low-poly-count enemy clones with only the occasional boss to spice things up, and even the bosses look like they fell off the same assembly line.

But where the game really fails is in its overall similarity to the first Drakengard. The control scheme is essentially the same, as is the game's structure. Multiple characters who can equip multiple weapons can be flipped through on the fly, with the balancing element being that only the equipped character and equipped weapon gain experience. The more experience a weapon has, the more moves you unlock for the character. As each character levels up, so do his melee stats. The dragon, Legna, also gains experience in battle, resulting in more powerful attack and defense stats. The RPG element remains intact, one of the few redeeming qualities of Drakengard 2. But the endless cycle of 1) fight enemies on the ground, Dynasty Warriors style, 2) hop up on the dragon's back for Ace Combat segments, and 3) strafe the enemy forces on the ground, Desert Strike style, returns -- and seems worse for the wear. Character animations are weak, and the camera angle is always zoomed in too close. Collision detection is rotten, especially when you have to fight some bosses in caves; you must attack them from the rear, but often you're are unable to because you can't run past your own idiot A.I. army who inadvertently block your path.

When you're on the ground fighting, it's almost sickening to look at. Ground textures are beyond lazy, and the enemies -- as has been stated -- are hardly intimidating, even when produced en masse. Creating 10-, 20-, 30-, or 40-hit combos (which produce HP- and MP-replenishing orbs) is child's play, and the overall level of challenge is weak, with the occasional difficulty spike coming mostly from bad camera angles at inopportune times. Aerial combat is hardly better, as each cut-scene warns you of what's coming, typically a swarm of laughable bats (which can be picked off individually or locked on to and shot down Panzer Dragoon style) or, even better, rows of floating cubes. Bear in mind that all of this "action" is peppered with and interrupted by a series of talking heads (pretend Keira Knightleys and Frodo Bagginses run rampant) who chastise you into action. Legna's voice acting is the most convincing but is somewhat lost in the whole cast's overwrought attempt at drama. In the end, you really just wish everyone would shut up and let you get on with it.

If there's any reason to recommend seeing this wholly lackluster sequel through to the end, it's that there's a clear undercurrent of "maybe the good guys are the bad guys," and if you've already put down the money to play the game, you might as well get what you came for. But if there's anyone we can still save from the curse of Drakengard 2, please consider a rental before buying. If this were a Simple 2000 game, we'd probably say, "It's decent for a $20 game, but you can see the budget quality in every corner." But since we know better, besides some nice CG work in the occasional cinematic, this is just a tepid return to mediocre series filled with potential never realized.